Lourdes will play rare role of underdog in section tennis tournament
May 15—ROCHESTER — The Lourdes boys tennis team has been here before.
That is, with it not expected to advance to the Class 1A state tournament.
But, considering the Eagles have reached that state event 16 straight years, it's best to never bet against them.
Last year, they didn't figure to make it. Schaeffer Academy was earmarked for going to state after having beaten the Eagles during the regular season. But when things really counted, in the Section 1, Class 1A tournament championship, Lourdes flipped that result, winning 4-3.
In 2018, it was the same thing. St. Peter had beaten Lourdes during the regular season, then lost to it in the section final, 4-3. And in 2011, same deal again. This time it was St. Paul Academy that was the favorite to advance from Section One after having downed Lourdes in a regular-season dual.
But nope, the Spartans stayed home. Lourdes beat them by that same 4-3 score in the section final.
Now, it's 2024 and here we go again. No. 4-ranked Lourdes is not the favorite in a Section 1-1A tournament that starts Thursday with quarterfinals (Lourdes hosts Lake City) and ends with the section semifinals and championship on Tuesday at the Rochester Athletic Club.
The favorite is No. 2-ranked Winona Cotter, which has been buoyed by some foreign-exhange students this season. Cotter has played Lourdes twice, winning by 4-3 scores both times. The Ramblers are seeded first, Lourdes second and Schaeffer — also considered a considerable threat — seeded third.
"It's going to be a really tough section tournament," said Lourdes coach Steve Tacl, who's been the Eagles' head man since 2011 and whose team is likely to meet Schaeffer in the semifinals. "Schaeffer and Cotter are both really tough teams."
Tacl sees Cotter, with its formidable singles lineup, as the fairly clear favorite. Not that he's conceding anything. . .
"It's been an interesting season for us for a couple of reasons," said Tacl, whose team is 8-5 overall and beat Schaeffer 5-2 this season. "We had our first match last Friday where we actually had our four legit top-10 players in our lineup. But we still couldn't get it done against Cotter. They are very tough in singles. It has to be everybody stepping up for us to beat them. We have to have guys step up and compete in clutch moments. We've not done that enough against Cotter this year."
Lourdes' biggest trouble is that it doesn't have many veterans of playoff tennis.
Sophomore Evan Ritter is the team's top guy. Two years ago as an eighth grader, he was outside of Lourdes' top 10 into late April. Now, he's the Eagles No. 1 player.
"Last year, Evan was our No. 2 singles player," Tacl said. "Now, he's No. 1. He is a really solid player. In terms of improvement year to year, he's way up there compared to anyone else I've ever seen play. But he's still not played a lot of tennis."
Andy Fink plays No. 4 singles for Lourdes. Two years ago, tennis wasn't even on his radar. Still, he's done a crash course in the game and has made it work, like so many from this Lourdes edition.
"Andy is a fighter and a scrapper and he believes he can win," Tacl said. "That is a big part of it. But it is these kinds of guys who we are relying on."
Tacl isn't complaining about his circumstances. In fact, he kind of likes it, challenges resonating with him.
Trying to advance to state for the 17th straight year, and making that attempt against the odds, that is what is in front of him and his team.
It seems we've seen this movie before.
